Ezzard Charles vs. Sonny Liston

I call it 50/ 50. Charles has the style to outbox Liston, albeit close, since both are fantastic jabbers, but if Liston manages to nail the slippery Master Boxer, it might be over for him.

 

Liston by KO Late whilst behind on the cards

 

Interesting prediction that I would like to see happen, but I can't really see Liston pulling off a late TKO over anyone. Charles either.

 

I am a Charles fan but he isn't winning this one, especially not a 15 rounder.

Its very hard to envision a relatively short heavyweight being able to stay away from Liston. Ezzard is greater P4P, sure, but because he doesn't have the longest arms, he has to stay relatively close to Liston.

Liston had massive arms, the 84 inch reach might be overstated, but it was probably 81-82 inches. Although Charles was defensively brilliant, and he could neutralise Sonny's power for several rounds, Liston will hand that jab and massive left hooks followed by overpowering right hands.

Liston tko 13

 

I really did spend a few minutes coming up with a pick tbh, I ended up seeing Liston being relatively inactive early on and getting outboxed, but catching Charles with a hard punch that he doesn’t recover from, liston not tired late because of not throwing much early because Charles is confusing him, but Liston ends up letting his hands go late and catching Charles at some point

 

Liston KO's him after 8 or 9 very close rounds.

 

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Notice how close Charles is to Louis. Louis's reflexes were done, his hand speed was gone, notice around 13:21 when Louis lands a decent right. Louis was also able to land a reasonable number of jabs

The 1960 Liston, while not a speed demon, is quicker than Louis, has longer arms, hits harder than the aging Louis (though prime Louis had comparable power to Liston) and will be able to land. If Liston lands the same right hand, it would have a different effect altogether.

 

I do know Liston could be inactive early in fights, but I just can't see Charles winning the early rounds. Tbh, I think he would give Liston the same kind of trouble Machen did essentially. I think Liston would start fast but quickly find out he had trouble landing on Charles. Liston might get the upper hand w/ a knockdown early, but then Charles come back to nail Liston w/ brisk flurries and the two would trade a lot of powerful jabs. Charles would end up on the ropes and some point and get hurt. He would keep winding up there and eventually Liston would nail Charles badly and finish him off after a couple of knockdowns.

 

I must beg to differ on one point. Liston was never faster than anybody, maybe George Foreman.

 

Charles is p4p much higher on an all time scale than Liston. The differences in legacy shouldn’t be questioned. But stylistically this may be a bad match for the Cincinnati cobra. Sonny had a freakishly long reach for a man of only 6’1” and one of the best heavyweight jabs of all Time with power to go along with it... Mind you that if this is the 1960 Sonny Liston ( as proposed ) then we’re not talking about the man who was outclassed by Cassius Clay in ‘64. I’m predicting a Liston knockout win but uncertain when. Just not a good fit for Ez.

 

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Liston was one of the slower heavyweight champs, sure, but he shows decent speed in that video. Probably more than the 36 year old faded Louis.

 

i suppose he had decent speed in that video; I wasn't saying '50 Joe was faster than Liston, just prime Joe.

 

fully agreed. Prime Joe had lightning fast hands, way quicker than Liston.

 

Love Charles but I will take a prime Liston all day long.